News: 2022
April 2022
No sooner had Martha Woodcock's poetry collection, We Say We Will, hit the shops than we celebrated the launch of John Masterson's memoir, The Column I Never Wrote.
The first of John's launches was held in The Book Centre, Kilkenny where John MacKenna spoke. Among the things he noted about the book were John Masterson's courage and honesty in telling a difficult story about the experiences of a young Church of Ireland man who found himself married to a young Catholic girl in 70s Ireland while rumours and gossip swirled around them like a storm.
A week later, the voice of Eurovision and joy itself on the airwaves, Marty Whelan, spoke at the Dublin launch of the memoir in House. He talked about John's bravery, honesty and self-deprecating humour, referring in particular, to a most intriguing painting about which John writes in his book.
John spoke at length on KCLR with Eimear Ní Bhraonán and on WLR with Damien Tiernan and he will feature on Marty Whelan' show on Lyric in the coming weeks.
The Column I Never Wrote is a slim book, full of fascinating and fertile ideas – explorations of memory, of identity, of psychological suffering, of the stories we tell ourselves and the ways those stories can affect what we choose to do and be.
Emily Hourican, Sunday Independent
We are really delighted that the digital audio book is now available. The Column I Never Wrote audio book features the mahogany tones of John Masterson.
We've been catching up on Downton Abbey after all these years and were really pleased when, Maria Doyle Kennedy tweeted favourably about The Column I Never Wrote. And on that note, thanks to Sara Donohue for helping to manage our Twitter account over the past couple of months.
Link to John Masterson's radio interview with Eimear Ní Bhraonáin:
The Hedgeschool is winding down for 2021/'22. It's been a source of inspiration and energy over the past year and we look forward to reading and seeing the work of those who attended as well as to a new programme starting in September of this year. Further information available from thehedgeschoolonthemoone@gmail.com
50 Word Tale
Congratulations to Gabrielle Hyland whose 50 word tale was selected for our April newsletter. The given title was
Half way up the stairs....
I was halfway up the stairs when I realised I had no idea why I was going up. Should I go down again in order to jog my memory? No, I’m going to make those little grey cells work.
Now, what was I doing just before I came up the stairs...
Submissions welcome for our 50 word tale for our June newsletter on the theme of I've done my sentence/But committed no crime. (Thanks Queen)Deadline: May 30th 2022.
With thanks to…
We rely on the cooperation of a number of independent bookshops who have been nothing but encouraging since we began this venture.
A very sincere thank you, in particular, to Woodbine Books, Kilcullen who took care of sales at John Masterson's Dublin launch; The Kilkenny Book Centre, who hosted John's Kilkenny launch; Eason, Carlow; Barker and Jones, Naas; Farrell and Nephew, Newbridge; Maynooth Bookshop; Books Upstairs; The Village Bookshop, Terenure; Bookworm, Thurles; Bridge Street Books, Wicklow; Hanna's Bookshop, Rathmines; The Company of Books, Ranelagh and the ever supportive Kenny's of Galway.
Thanks also to Kilkenny Arts Office and to KCLR for their wonderful and crucial support.
Submissions
Our readers are still working their way through the manuscripts submitted in January. All writers should hear from us by the end of May.
Submissions for 2022 are now closed and will reopen in January 2023.